Will's optimism seems misplaced

Absent human intervention and some cosmic catastrophe, the Earth's resources would have supported life for millions, perhaps billions of years.

Human activity may already have changed all that. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, 90 percent of the world's environmental scientists believe climate change is real and caused by humans.

Our prospects are not improved by optimistic prognostications such as that in George Will's column Aug. 19. His description of the report of the Club of Rome back in 1972 essentially dismisses it as folly. But Smithsonian Magazine opines differently. Mark Strauss asserts that Australian physicist Graham Turner ''found the predictions (of the Club) nearly matched the facts.'' A March 16 entry on the Smithsonian's website cited other experts as believing sustainable development is no longer possible.

The onset of negative consequences from profligate exploitation of resources may be delayed by technological shifts or advances. But clean water is a problem in many parts of the world. Energy is a problem. Reaching increasingly remote oil deposits increases the risk of ecological disaster. Hydro-
fracking has caused damage in Pennsylvania and Wyoming, as well as minor earthquakes in Ohio.

When the world economy is humming, commodity prices soar and there are shortages of oil, metals, even cement. Malthus' old warning about population outstripping food supply is gaining credence.

Can Will really believe what he's written? I've generally admired his good sense even when I've disagreed with him. This piece is disappointing.